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Wedding: The Ceremony, Part Two

My uncle Hamish officiated our ceremony. (My mom had managed to get him ordained over email!) In his thick English accent, Hamish kicked off the ceremony by saying, "It seems a bit rich, with a voice like this, to welcome you all to New York!" His service was beautiful--both funny and moving.We had spent all summer choosing our readings (it was surprisingly tough!), and in the end, we found four poems we absolutely loved. First, our friend Kenan read “Our Union” by Hafiz. This poem breaks my heart, and Kenan read it achingly beautifully and slowly:

Our union is like this: You feel cold, so I reach for a blanket to cover our shivering feet.
A hunger comes into your body, so I run to my garden and start digging potatoes.
You asked for a few words of comfort and guidance, and I quickly kneel by your side offering you a whole book as a gift.
You ache with loneliness one night so much you weep, and I say here is a rope, tie it around me, I will be your companion for life.

Then, our good friend Penny read two poems:

From "First Poems," Rainer Maria Rilke
Understand, I'll slip quietly
Away from the noisy crowd
When I see the pale
Stars rising, blooming over the oaks
I'll pursue solitary pathways
Through the pale twilit meadows,
With only this one dream:
You come too.

The Dream Keeper, by Langston Hughes
Bring me all of your dreams,
You dreamer,
Bring me all your
Heart melodies
That I may wrap them
In a blue cloud-cloth
Away from the too-rough fingers
Of the world.

Finally, for a bit of comic relief, our friend Nora read “I'll Be There For You” by Louise Cuddon:

I'll be there, my darling, through thick and through thin
When your mind's in a mess and your head's in a spin
When your plane's been delayed, and you've missed the last train.
When life is just threatening to drive you insane
When your thrilling whodunit has lost its last page
When somebody tells you, you're looking your age
When your coffee's too cool, and your wine is too warm
When the forecast said, “Fine,” but you're out in a storm
When your quick break hotel, turns into a slum
And your holiday photos show only your thumb
When you park for five minutes in a resident's bay
And return to discover you've been towed away
When the jeans that you bought in hope or in haste
Just stick on your hips and don't reach round your waist
When the food you most like brings you out in red rashes
When as soon as you boot up the bloody thing crashes
So my darling, my sweetheart, my dear...
When you break a rule, when you act the fool
When you've got the flu, when you're in a stew
When you're last in the queue, don't feel blue
'cause I'm telling you, I'll be there.

joanna, as everyone else has said, these posts are killing me! Hafiz is one of my all-time favorite poets. and, can i just say, your uncle is quite handsome! an English George Clooney, if i say so myself :)

But I thought I was being orginal by choosing the Louise Cuddon poem as *our* final reading (minus the bit about Santa! We'll have kids there...) for exactly the same reason. But you have such impeccable taste I'm pleased :D

I adore that last poem...so cute! My honey as the flu right now and I've just recently found that I'm allergic to nearly every single thing I love and break out in a rash all the time! How appropriate! ~jen

Beautiful beautiful readings! I loved them all, and welcomed the humor of the last piece especially after tearing up from the first. I'm so curious: what didn't get included? Any other recommendations?

I'm crying over this. SO beautiful. The first poem gave me the goosebumps and then my the last one I was laughing. it must have been a wonderful ceremony. the images and the reading and the way you describe it...all so touching. congratulations, again!!

I read your blog daily but comment close to never. I had to stop to do so today, though, because the poems you chose to be read at your beautiful ceremony have me weeping at my desk. So, so lovely. I can't wait to share them with my husband. Thanks for sharing your special day with all of us.

hafiz has been one of my absolute favorites for years and years and years. i LOVED the poem that you included!the setting, the people, the words, everything was luminous.congratulations alex + joanna :)

Your wedding sounds and looks beautiful. Thank you for sharing it with us. The readings are just so glorious I had to share (here http://ispyinspiration.blogspot.com/2009/10/our-union.html)Congratulations!

Your blog has been so fun and full of beautiful pictures. I have been reading it for weeks, but just took the time to look through your wedding. It is so full of love, for your husband, family, and even strangers like me. You seem like a beautiful person. Thank you for sharing your life.

Joanna, I had read your series on your wedding earlier this summer when my then fiance and I were planning our wedding, and only just realized that we also read the same poem by Hafiz at our wedding in September. In the book I have it is titled "The Gift". My grandmother and grandfather stood together and she read the poem aloud; I gushed during the rehearsal while she read it. It is such a beautiful, simple set of words. How special it was. xo

Just read this for the first time and LOVE your poems. I have a little "journal" going of love-letters to my future husband (for whenever I'm destined to meet him) and these will make a perfect addition. Hope you don't mind! I loved reading about your wedding!

oh my gosh... this is just so sweet!! all of it! And the photo's to go along with it... so, so moving and beautiful. (I love how your uncle began the introduction, and your father being the hero again, and the "giving away" of the bride - priceless - along with Alex's expression. I just love the details. Thanks for sharing them with us. :) cheap prom dresses